STANLEY TOOKIE WILLIAMS Biography - Crimes, Laws and people

 
 

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STANLEY TOOKIE WILLIAMS

Name: Stanley Tookie Williams III                                                     
Born: 29 December 1953 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.                                   
Died: 13 December 2005 Marin County, California, U.S.                                 
                                                                                     
Stanley Tookie Williams III (December 29, 1953 - December 13, 2005), born in New     
Orleans, Louisiana, was a convicted murderer and an early leader of the Crips, a     
notorious American street gang which had its roots in South Central Los Angeles       
in 1971. In December 2005 he was executed for the 1979 murders of Albert Owens,       
Yen-Yi Yang, Tsai-Shai Lin, and Yee-Chen Lin. While in prison, he was nominated       
for a Nobel prize for authoring books that were intended to help disenfranchised     
youth.                                                                               
                                                                                     
Williams refused to aid police investigations with any information against his       
gang, and was implicated in attacks on guards and other inmates as well as           
multiple escape plots. In 1993, Williams began making changes in his behavior,       
and became an anti-gang activist while on Death Row in California. Although he       
continued to refuse to assist police in their gang investigations, he renounced       
his gang affiliation and apologized for the Crips' founding, while never             
admitting to the crimes for which he was convicted. He co-wrote children's books     
and participated in efforts intended to prevent youths from joining gangs. A         
biographical TV-movie entitled Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story was         
made in 2004, and featured Jamie Foxx as Williams.                                   
                                                                                     
On December 13, 2005, Williams was executed by lethal injection after clemency       
was rejected by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, amidst debate over the death         
penalty and whether his anti-gang advocacy in prison represented genuine             
atonement. Williams was the second inmate in California to be executed in 2005.